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Merri

from Loom by The Orbweavers

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about

The Merri Creek flows north-south through Melbourne, over an ancient lava flow, through the un-ceded sovereign lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Woiwurrung language group. It meets the Birrarung (Yarra River) in Abbotsford. A section of the creek runs through parkland at the end of our street in East Brunswick.

After European invasion and settlement, areas along the Merri creek were quarried for bluestone and clay. Melbourne’s deepest bluestone quarry, founded around 1860, was at the end of our street. It operated until the 1950s. When the quarry reached the end of its life, the site was taken over in the 1960s by demolition firm Whelan the Wrecker in the 1960s, who proceeded to fill the vast hole with demolished building rubble and rubbish. When the hole was filled, the former tip became a park, with a winding bike path along the bank. You can still see remnant bricks from demolished buildings poking out of the stratified cutting along the bike path. It is ironic to think the materials used to construct these demolished buildings ended up buried in the place they were excavated from.

Read more about the history of Whelan the Wrecker in Robyn Annear's book ‘A City Lost and Found’.

We wanted this song to sound like the creek valley - watery, reverberant and whispery like the Allocasuarinas lining the bank. The bell birds in the song were recorded on my phone next to the creek.

This is a love song for the creek.

lyrics

Merri, your water flows into the quarry
Where bluestone once lay below
But now the gutters are paved with your heart
And the hole is filled with clay
And fallen homes

Evening, when we ride into the valley,
Cool air and tannin sighs,
Allocasuarinas whisper the same song,
As the water follows home
And so do I

Down past the convent
And under river
And through the headland
And out to sea

Allocasuarinas
Whisper the same song
I will always follow you.

credits

from Loom, released October 28, 2011

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about

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The Orbweavers Melbourne, Australia

The Orbweavers are Marita Dyson & Stuart Flanagan, multidisciplinary artists working in song, performance and visual art. Their work responds to history, memory and place. They are interested in local waterways, industrial history and environmental change.

They have written and recorded 3 albums, co-produced by their greyhound companions, Fern (RIP 2018) & Susie, released through Mistletone. ... more

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